Monday, December 2, 2013

Do we need the Electoral College?

Today in class we discussed whether the electoral college should be used or if we should use a system based on popular votes.  We had many strong opinions in our group, but I have my mind set.  

I think that we should keep the electoral college.  Although in some very rare cases the electoral college may not reflect the votes of the population (Gore vs. Bush), it does protect the interests of the states with small populations.  For example, if we had a system of voting that was based upon popular votes, the smaller states would not get visits from the candidates, which could in turn reduce voter turnout.  The candidates may not see the need of visiting states with small populations, since they would only need the most number of votes.  Candidates would probably travel to California, New York, Texas, and other high populous states.  

The electoral college benefits states with small populations and coming from Iowa, I can't help but like that.  I like to think that my vote is important in the election, and I feel that without the electoral college, I wouldn't have that same feeling.  

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